Thursday started with a bright and early east-coast radio interview talking about the trip to date and then I met the group downstairs to head over to the tournament.  I have only been to one PGA Tour event in my life and that was back when I had just three clubs, so I was very excited to see how they managed the course as well as approached each shot.  Today felt like a bit of research for my own future development and I had goals to see how the different pre-shot routines varied.  And, I wanted to see some good golf as well as some entertaining celebrity golf.

Even the walk down to the course from the main entrance was exciting.  Not the best picture, but as you are approaching the course you start to see the ocean and can sense the history of the place:

The first thing that I did was watch some groups tee off on the first hole.  The pros all took long irons or hybrids as you just want to send it out about 200-210 yards and then the Ams were using anything from hybrids to drivers.  I felt for the Ams on this first box as a lot of the ones who were not celebrities and not used to performing were visibly nervous on this first box.  I could only imagine what it must be like to tee it up on the first hole in front of a huge crowd for the first time.  Made me a little jealous as I wanted to be in their shoes, but at the same time empathize with the tension.  A couple of them straight topped or shanked the ball, even though on paper these guys were anything from a 2 to 12 handicap.  It’s one of those things that takes experience to adjust to, I sensed.

After a few of those groups I wanted to head over to the triangle where you can see the green of 6, the entire hole 7 and the tee shots for 8.  It’s an amazing little spot on a peninsula cliff that contains the shortest hole on the entire PGA Tour, the 100 yard par 3 7th:

I couldn’t wait to play this one.  I hear it’s a crazy hard hole when the wind is up that actually averages a 4.7, but without wind it was just a little half gap wedge layup that almost every pro hit.  Still exciting and fun to watch them pitch it down and have the ball spin back towards the hole.  For a fun fact, the longest club anyone has ever used for a hole in one on this hole during competition was a 3-iron.  Playing just 100 yards, that is a ton of wind to knock that thing down.

Later in the day we stopped by the media room and got to sit down at the press table where they interview golfers after their rounds.  It was fun to check out and see the behind the scenes stuff that goes on.  And, got to sit in the same seat as the future winner:

It was a good seat to be in.

After that the final groups were starting to come in and as a special treat we were going to get to chat with Herm Edwards who had just finished his round playing along side John Daly.  Herm was an amazingly kind and funny man who had some great insight in the sporting world, including his thoughts on Tiger’s state, which to sum up is that Tiger needs to go out and focus on finishing four tournament rounds instead of putting the pressure of winning right out of the gate.  First finish a tournament and get back into playing four rounds, follow that up with getting back into the winning circle down the road.  Herm and I chatting with Tiffany giving fist bumps to John Daly:

It was an incredible first day.  One for the ages.  And, there were still three more rounds to watch and enjoy.

To keep it a bit on the briefer side, the second day’s action was watched from Monterey Peninsula Country Club in the AM and then back to Pebble for the afternoon.  Around 2 we decided to go and play 9 holes of golf in order to at least warm up before our Monday round so we headed to Black Horse to tee it up.  After watching two days of pros play and having 4 lessons the day before that there were a ton of swing thoughts going on, so it was good to get them out over 9 holes instead of bringing them all to Pebble.  Nice course, too:

After the round we had yet another treat in store.  We had a chance to meet “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky who had just finished a round with Dustin Johnson:

Not the best picture of Wayne, but fun to meet him and chat some golf.

That evening I was beat.  It had been a handful of long days and by the time we got back to the hotel it was about 8pm.  I think I fell to sleep by 9 and didn’t wake until 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet at 7 for our ride back to the course.  It was good to get solid sleep as the sun and excitement of the week to date had caught up to me.  And, I wanted energy for the weekend rounds as well as for Monday.

On Saturday I explored Spyglass throughout the morning, which I could tell was by far the hardest track of this tournament, and from what I hear is perhaps the hardest course in the area.  It is like Pebble, but longer and tree lined with tight fairways.  The scores were nowhere near what they were on the other two courses even though it was again a beautiful day.

I followed Bill Murray and his partner D.A. Points for a few holes and then Larry the Cable Guy for a few.  Both were quite entertaining and Bill was a surprisingly good golfer.  I saw him hit the par 5 first hole on his third shot from 230 yards after having to punch out from under a tree on his second.  He just tossed the wood in the air in a fit of success.  Always the entertainer, he is a fun one to follow.

Later in the day I went over to Pebble to catch up with the rest of the group.  The ladies had been walking behind the ropes with Jordan Spieth all day and I wanted to catch them on the 18th hole as they were walking in.   It sounded like they had a great time and I was excited for my chance to be behind the ropes with Jason Day and Charlie Beljan the next day.

Tim and I arrived early in the day Sunday to check in as Honorable Observers and then hung out until our tee time with Charlie and Jason was about ready.  We were introduced to them both on the first tee and then were excited to get going and watch some great golf first hand:

They were both nice guys and once the round started were totally in work mode.  It was Sunday and this was their office.  They were each 6 off the lead at the start of the day and you could tell they were hunting for birds and eagles to catch up and make a push.

On the first hole Jason was in the middle of the fairway and Charlie was blocked by a tree.  I have no clue how he did it, but Beljan managed a great shot and they both ended up on the green.  Here’s Tim and I watching Charlie make his shot:

The most impressive part of each of their games, to me, was their long iron play.  They hit their long irons as accurate as I hit my wedges.  Their putting was good, chipping good, driving the ball they hit it far, but the huge difference between where they are and where I am is that fact that 190-230 yards out they are going to stick it to within 20 feet whereas I’m just happy if I hit the green.

Charlie didn’t even have a hybrid or wood.  His set goes from driver to 2-iron and he could really pound that 2-iron.   they both hit the driver within 5 yards of each other and on Pebble didn’t hit driver on that many holes as it’s not a very long course, playing around 6,900 yards.  Even on the par 5 6th hole neither pulled driver and both got on the green in two.  Jason Eagled it from 6′ after having birdied the 5th and then birdied the 7th to bring his score down to 17 under and within 2 of the lead.  Later on Jason had a couple bogeys when he was pushing contention and then ended up 4th overall.  Charlie had a late push and birdied the last 3 holes to end up 3rd overall.  It was great golf on a beautiful Sunday and fun to watch them try and make a charge.

Tim and I walking down the 18th fairway:

Jason Day hitting his tee shot on the 18th box:

After the round we hung out behind the 18th green for a while and randomly ran into David Feherty, who Tim happens to know through his charity golf outings:

He was a nice guy and quite funny.  I reminded him that he was once quoted about my project and when asked what my chances of making the Tour, he said that “I’ll be generous and say it’s a snowballs chance in hell.”  It gave me a chuckle years ago when he said it so I had to get him to autograph my hat:

After spending some time behind the 18th we went up to watch the final groups come in and out of nowhere a fog began rolling into the 18th hole.  It went from sunny to where you could barely see half way down the hole in a little over 5 minutes:

Perhaps this was a bad omen for Monday’s weather.  No matter if it was sunny of 60mph winds, nothing was going to keep us from playing this course the next day.

Perhaps I was wrong with the whole “3-part” thing.  This post ended up being much longer than I thought and I haven’t even gotten to the part of playing the course.  So, the fourth, and finally final, piece on Pebble Beach will have to wait until next time…

The shoot was quick, too.  I basically just taught the TV host how to hit a golf ball as he had zero experience in the sport (a la Dan 2010) and then told a quick summary of my story to date while we played a couple holes of the St Jörgen Golf Club.  I love when these things go well as my journalism background likes to get things correct the first time and be efficient.

Afterwords I had 48 hours to explore and reflect on the trip as well as the past few weeks.

Walking around Gothenburg I was reminded how important it is to have an extremely strong sense of self belief in your vision.  I’m not exactly sure why that thought came to mind while exploring the 17th century neighborhood of Haga Nygata, but I suppose when exposed to the countless options of this world it can be easy to have a wandering mind. It’s important to have a bit of that old fashioned tunnel vision to keep the train moving along.

For me it is also important to step back and appreciate everything that my work has accomplished both on and off the course to date.  Never would I have imagined that I would get flown to both Australia and Europe in a single year to make an appearance.  It’s important for me to relish these experiences as there are a lot of things that have been foregone over the past 4 years in order to get to where I currently am.  Short term (or even longer term) sacrifices lead to the long term payout.  This is true with just about everything in life, not just one man’s chosen path or his golf game.

So relish I did and I had a great time during the trip.  In a way it felt like an end-of-the-summer vacation and seeing as I only golfed a few times and didn’t get much practice in it might as well have been my annual time off.  When I returned I felt refreshed and ready to get back at it, too.  It took about an hour to warm up the body as 15 hours on a plane does no wonders for your golf game, but once I get the swing back on line I hit some good shots, including birdying my first hole back in the states, which is a great sign of things to come.  Of the 9 holes I played I birdied 3 of them and felt good rolling the ball.

Now that I am back and refreshed I am ready to make the next push of the Plan.  The first step is to meet with Michael Neff again and get my clubs better fit for my current swing.  He texted me while away and said he had it figured out and would tell me in person when we were on a range.  We shall meet early this week and I am excited to hear what he has “discovered.”  I have no clue, but trust that he knows what he is doing and will set the sticks accordingly.

The next step is to decide which clubs to play with that new configuration.  I have been hitting my Titleist set for 20 months and still like them, but have a call with Titleist and two other club manufacturers in the near future (i.e. this week).  I have been offered similar deals to what a typical club pro might get (14 clubs, hats, gloves and balls) from three manufactures right now and need to decide whether it makes any sense to try out something new or to stick with what I have.  It’s a good problem to have.

On a side note, here is a story from a Swiss newspaper about my time over there:

The link:  http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/sport/weitere/Spielt-er-2018-gegen-Tiger-Woods/story/22975901

As you can see, I’m decked out in my Titleist, Vokey and FJ gear.  Like the world’s cheapest billboard.  I truly appreciate the gear that I have gotten to date and think I have repaid everyone who has sent it in media and social media outreach.  Seems to be a fair trade in my opinion.

Perhaps it’s time to start adjusting the tone and approach of the blog in order to expand the reach and truly inspire instead of just telling my own story.  The original idea of telling my story seems to be getting stale and I think the more useful information would be to tell the story of what research and findings people across the globe are currently discovering that can help us all improve.  I have met a number of these people and think that focussing more on their work, albeit through my training eyes, is a better approach for both myself and every potential blog reader out there.  It is time to seriously step back and scrutinize the path this blog has travelled down and figure out where it needs to go for my own sanity and the readers’ sake.  I’m not saying that my training or practice will be different, just that I will focus more of this site on human performance in general while entangling it with one person’s expeditions.

At any rate, this wasn’t supposed to be a blog about shifting directions; rather my aim was to talk about the Europe trip and about what comes next, although I suppose the jet lagged mind wanders when wide awake at 4am and what I worry about during those middle-night times is often how to continue funding this expedition.  Mountaineers and explorers have similar issues, although once they finally raise funds and set off their concerns shift from funding to survival.  I suppose I have a leg up in that respect as it is very unlikely that getting lost or an avalanche will be my demise.   Everything has it’s plusses and minuses.

Perhaps that is the point.  You can travel the world and see all of the amazing people doing their amazing work stuffs and fantasize about what their lives may be like but at the end of the day you have to trust your heart compass is pointing you in the right direction.  Without that faith all is quickly lost.

There are countless ways to get from here to there, just pick one and stick to it.  That, in a nutshell, is talent.

And now I shall force upon you a photo slideshow of my 11 days in Europe.  You knew it was coming and like the good relatives you are you will do me a kind and take a look.  Perhaps pretend you just found this in a thrift store laptop 100 years from now and are trying to create a novel around it about the lives of those involved.  Or feel free to skip it.

In a couple more hours the sun will come up, at which point practice is in the equation.  For now I will continue the mental process of organizing my goals for the rest of 2014 and then begin to think about the year to come.

I was going to make it a pdf download and ask people to contribute what they thought it was worth, but I thought if I put the book up on Amazon’s website it would be better formatted for all types of digital readers.  If this doesn’t work after a couple of months I may put a link to the pdf up as well, but for the time being please think about supporting The Dan Plan by purchasing the book here:

Amazon Unites States:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MTC0NJA

Amazon UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MTC0NJA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00MTC0NJA

Amazon Germany: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00MTC0NJA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Amazon Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00MTC0NJA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

And most any other country, email me if you want a specific link or search for “The Dan Plan”.

I wish to apologize in advance as a few external links did not translate to this format.  One of the most blaring absences are videos.  On a few occasions I talk about watching a video and it’s just a blank on the page.  Outside of that the content is whole.  I edited out about one third of the posts but there is still quite a bit of content, too much in a lot of ways.  Down the road at some point I will have a professional editor (or a well versed friend, or myself when the amount of time in a day magically doubles) take a gander at the content and polish it up.  For now, this is the story, more or less, word for word from the beginning.  I hope you enjoy and get some value out of the content.

For every book purchased from Amazon almost $5 goes to The Dan Plan.  Thank you for reading and please help spread the word to anyone potentially interested in seeing what it takes to make such a drastic change in one’s life.

Cheers!

I am definitely glad I went and hope the opportunity comes one day down the road to return.  Australia is an amazing country with wonderful people and great golf courses and beaches.  Before I write any more, here is the standard photo slideshow YouTube style.  It doesn’t have sound so feel free to add your own soundtrack:

And before I forget, this is the Pure Performance video about dynamic loft and what creates it as well as how to lower it in order to optimize distance:

Dynamic loft is my number one goal right now with the long sticks.  For ages I have not known why I put so much spin on the ball with the driver and 3-wood.  I even didn’t get an answer when I went down to Oceanside for my last fitting, but now I know it is not because of the shaft/club head combo it is more about how I impact the ball.  It is absolutely wonderful if I can gain 10-12 yards by changing the angle in which the club strikes the ball.  That is what needs to happen and what will happen.

The media was amazing during my trip.  In all I appeared on SBS Insight, three radio stations, news.com.au, iseekgolf.com, channel 7, SBS News, aussiegolfer.com.au and a couple other golf sites/blogs.  Quite the circuit for being there just two weeks.  I was honored to do the interviews and it makes me want to travel more to spread the human-performance word in a similar way.  I also filmed 3 episodes of the Australian TV show Golf Getaway that will air in September and will post the exact time and date when they come up. It was awesome meeting the host Andrew and spending a week with him in the Gold Coast.  We had a blast, played a bunch of courses, road in V8 Supercars and on a Harley and stomach flu and all I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here is the link to the SBS show for everyone not in the US who couldn’t watch it, it was a great show and an honor to be a part of it:

http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/299701827561

Also, a video I shot at Bonnie Doon golf course in Sydney:

The Dan Plan reached a huge new audience over the past two weeks and I appreciate all of the responses, email, FB messages, Tweets, etc during the stay.   Sorry if I have not had a chance to reply to them all yet, it’s been a whirlwind.  Speaking of response, I tried to reach out before the trip to get a corporate sponsor to cover a portion of the trip in exchange for wearing a logo and doing some publicity but to no avail.  Perhaps I will be able to find a sponsor for the next trip as I think it’s a cheap way for a company to spread their word through a positive message.  I’ll keep moving forward on my own for now and while continuing to pursue options.  With a bit of funding I could do a similar trip to a handful of countries in Europe, New Zealand, and all over Asia and South America.  I love learning what golf is to people in different parts of the world while also giving talks on human performance and how hard work trumps the old notion of talent.

Australia is serious about its sport and golf; even more so than America.  It may have been the circles that I traveled in, but it seemed to me that sport was always a big topic whether in general conversation or on the nightly news.  They even have three different types of rugby (one being Australian rules football which is a bit different but still a derivation of the sport) which are on tv regularly.  Sport was all over the place and I could tell that a lot of young people were very interested in competing and practicing in order to improve.  I understand now how a country of 23 million got 35 medals at the 2012 summer Olympics, placing the country 7th in the world.

Something else I noticed is that everything is twice as expensive over there.  From coffee and food to gas and lodging, it seemed like you could basically double what you thought you would spend in the states and that would be the price.  You can get some grocery store sushi for $14, a medium coffee for $4, gas for $7 a gallon, a fast food meal for $12 and a cross-town bus fair for about $6.  When I was last down unda it made sense as you got 2 Aussie dollars for one US, but this go around it was a bit more expensive.  I think it might be hurting the tourism economy and Australia must rely quite a bit on tourism as it only has those 23 million people in the country, or about 4 million more than New York State.  BUT…..  the golf is way cheaper and, after all, that’s what we are talking about here.

To be a member of a private club in Oz sets you back $1,000-$4,000 a year.  In the $3-4k annual range there are some amazing courses which would easily be $600-$700 per month here, so even if everything else is expensive you can always play some cheaper golf.  I also noticed at some public courses that tee times were around the $20-$30 range.  It seemed very accessible, even at the posh joints.

One thing I keep considering and loved about all of the courses that I played is how they let the rough go more wild.  It takes a lot less man hours and way fewer resources to keep up a track in this manner.  I think the US should seriously consider how it uses water on golf courses and think about watering less while allowing the areas between holes (or between the fairway and OB) to go uncultivated.  This adds in seasonal differences in conditions while also helping to transition the general publics view that golf is a overly consumptive endeavor.  Especially in a place like Portland I am surprised that there are not “greener” golf courses that don’t have to be green all year long.  I am emailing some of the golf course superintendents that I met on the trip to see what their water usage is so I can compare it to courses state-side.  I will be interested to see just how big the differences are.  I am very curious about this and hope there is a way to convince at least my home course to start being more water-minded.

There was a lot to process and appreciate from the trip.  I’m just getting back to it and made it out for practice and a round today.  It’s fun to be back in Portland and hitting in familiar circumstances.  But, I have goals and after that two week break I think now is a good time to solidify my upcoming goals while also considering how to practice for the rest of the summer.

I have a call with the Vision 54 ladies scheduled for Monday where we are going to talk about developing a brand new 2 hour block of practice.  I’m super excited about this and will spend the weekend hitting balls while contemplating what practice could and should look like moving forward.  The trip was fun and I have a ton of memories and new friends from it, but it’s time to get back to work.

It was 6am and I couldn’t check into my hotel until noon so I went on a walk down to the Harbor Bridge.  It’s winter here, but I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and was pretty comfortable out, about as warm as a nice Portland Spring day.  The first stop was to do the tourist thing and see the sights:

Really amazing city and walking around reminded me of the time I lived here back in 2000.  It seems like ages ago, but the smells and sights and sounds flooded the memory banks.

The rest of the day was about staying awake until the night came in order to stave off jet lag. Sydney is 17 hours ahead of Portland so my circadian rhythm had been thrown a few extra loops.  I made it until dark and then was surprisingly wide awake after fighting sleep all day so popped an over the counter sleep aid and hit the hay.

The next morning I was picked up early by a news crew to go have a round at St. Michael’s Golf Course on the coast.  It was a beautiful morning and amazing to see the Pacific ocean as we played the round.  We even saw some whales passing by far off in the distance. Quite incredible landscape.

The setting reminded me a bit of Bandon Dunes back in Oregon, although the course was different.  Before coming people kept telling me that the tracks here were more “European” in style than the American courses.  I had no image of what the could mean, but once I started walking around I slowly got the picture.  American courses tend to be overly kempt, especially in the rough.  Here the fairways and greens are quite nicely groomed, but once you get in the rough, bushes or bunkers the area is let to grow more naturally.  I think I prefer this way of doing things as it allows for more realistic conditions while also utilizing less resources.  Different and interesting.

After the round I went to the SBS Studios to film Insight, which is the reason for my voyage south.  SBS Insight is a discussion based news program that tackles different subjects every week by opening up a topic to a panel of people as well as the audience.  This was my view:

The show that I was on was titled “Born or Made” and was centered on the idea of talent versus hard work and how far it is possible to go in life as well as whether talent is necessary to reach the peak of different fields.  We filmed for two hours and it was a very interesting debate that is scheduled to air July 22 on SBS. Please do check it out.  Scientists, coaches, athletes, chess prodigies, Dan, ballerinas and a number of other fascinating people spoke up.  If you can’t view SBS then it will be possible to watch the piece online shortly after the air date, stay tuned for the details.

The next couple of days were about meeting new people and playing some incredible courses.  I was lucky enough to tee it at Castle Hill, Monash Country Club and Bonnie Doon.  All great tracks with unique features.  One thing I found particularly interesting was that the area around the greens here are a completely different type of grass and very tight.  So far I have not played an Australian course with thick rough, but this is penalizing in a different way in that the grass likes to grab your club.  I think my wedges are great in the Pacific Northwest, but too much bounce when trying to finesse shots down under.  Lots of tight lies hit to rock hard greens build on a completely different substrate.  It’s a learning experience to play these rounds and figure out what type of shots are needed for these different conditions.

Here is an example of how the fairway bunkers and rough between fairways is let go natural.  this is a shot from Bonnie Doon:

And one of me just missing an eagle putt on the 9th hole (thrown in as it was my only eagle putt of the trip so far):

Under the gun and being filmed.  Bush in the background that eats golf balls immediately:

Rugby player Steve Menzies and me after our round.  Good thing I’m not going for Rugby in my 10,000 hours as I’m about a foot too short:

And Aussie Golfer hitting a shot. Not the best photo, but you can see what I mean about letting the rough go as well as how tight the grass was around the greens.  You can actually putt from about 10 yards off the green and it seemed like a lot of people did that:

I would love to thank all of the golf courses that I have been on so far as well as my new friends Damien Kelly, Steve Menzies, Aussie Golfer, and all of the fine people running SBS.

Tomorrow I am going into town to check out Pure Performance Golf Labs.  They “Pure” club shafts and do a ton of interesting fitting stuff that I have been curious about.

I’m loving Australia so far!  Will post more in depth about both the fitting and Australian golf soon.  First I need to catch up on a bit of sleep.  One more day in Sydney and then I will be flying to the Gold Coast for a week of practice and more new courses.

When they first offered to bring me over I was very interested and excited about the chance to see Sydney again, but then I realized that they meant this week, which aligned with the club championship at Riverside.  Last year I didn’t do so hot in that tourney and I was looking forward to retribution, but after discussing the options with the closer people in my life as well as social media it became pretty obvious that the right decision was to take the chance and going down under.

I leave this Tuesday for two weeks on a different continent.  I scheduled a few rounds and hope to find ways to practice and play every day while over there.  At least two of the rounds are club “tournament” ones that I can post and all of which will be on unfamiliar golf courses and with new people so are good ways to continue playing under pressure.  I didn’t realize this, but outside of the US you have to play in a club sponsored tournament round in order to post it to your handicap.  They have a few of them a week at each course and I hope to play in that format to see what it is like.  I suppose it’s similar to playing in the men’s (or ladies) day at the local course, but will have to check it out to see for sure.

I am very excited about the trip and have been running around getting things sorted for the past 24 hours.  I don’t know much about golf in Oz so any tips or heads-ups will be appreciated.  The schedule right now is that I land in Sydney this Thursday and stay there until Wednesday July 16 at which point I am heading up to the Gold Coast with a fellow who has a TV show called Golf Getaway to work on some of the courses up in that neck of the woods. Then I fly back to Portland on July 24 from Brisbane.

If anyone is around those parts on those dates let me know.  I’d love to meet up and play some golf.  It’s a brave new world over there and I’m excited to experience golf outside of the US for the first time.

Also, if anyone is interested in watching the show it will be this Friday’s, July 11, episode of Insight.  I’m not sure if it can be streamed online but will check into that.

I have been working hard on developing Play Boxes and will post about that soon, it’s a longish process and I am on to some great new feels, but still need to put in some more work before reporting back.  I will continue to pursue that and to push my learnings while abroad.  It’s actually a perfect time to note how I perform under pressure, with jet lag, on new courses, thousands of miles away.

Can’t wait!

For a little retro action, here is a video from the very first day of The Dan Plan:

I had no clue what I was getting into and putting from one foot away from the hole was “golf” to me.  You can tell I was a newbie from the yellow jacket, blue jeans and running shoes.  That outfit quickly changed as I realized there was actually a type of uniform to this game, which still strikes me as a bit odd as I’ve never noticed how a collared shirt helps one golf

Learning about golf and proper attire I ran into all sorts of people/outfits from the more traditional:

To the more modern man:

I knew there was a perfect compromise for me and I slowly worked my way from a rubber raincoat to wool sweaters then to the polyester shirts you see on Tour to finally finding some, in my mind, wearable cotton shirts that I have been wearing every day since.  In a way golf has changed how I look on a daily basis as I pretty much now don some form of non-denim pant and a collared shirt whereas 4 years ago it was jeans and a t-shirt unless I had to go to a funeral or a dinner with grandma.

………

Over the years the press started warming up to the journey.  The first major story that came out was written by Michael Kruse of the Tampa Bay Times.  It was a good read and he did a wonderful job reporting, even driving the 274 miles from Tampa to Tallahassee with me and staying overnight to attend a presentation I gave at Florida State University.  That story is here:  Tampa Bay Times

Since then it has been picked up by all sorts of media outlets from TV stations in China and Korea to blogs in Norway and magazines across the globe, CBS just ran a Sunday morning piece earlier this week.  Way more exposure than I had ever imagined and it has been an honor to hear all of the reactions from the story.  These have run the gambit from adulation to completely despising the idea.  Luckily we are all fortunate enough to have our own opinions and equally fortunate is the ability to appreciate or slough off the externalizations of others.

But, what have a learned so far?  That’s a tall order as so much happens in four years of a life.  Has it been a journey filled with inspiring times and conquered obstacles or is it becoming the regretful decision in life that I sought so hard to avoid in the first place?  It really just depends on which day you ask me, although for the vast majority of days it would definitely be the former.

Sometimes I can’t imagine doing anything else and I love this journey, but on a few occasions I have found it hard to muster up the drive to remain focussed.  That’s just what happens when you do something constantly for four years.  Life’s not a movie and emotions flow like the tide.  I think the lesson I have learned is to allow the bad times to pass as the better are always on the horizon and when the good moments are here remember to appreciate them.  Also, don’t forget how green your own grass is before you start looking out over those fences.  Some cliches are better than others.

What I have done the worst over the past four years is to attract and hold on to potential sponsors.  I never imagined how hard it was going to be to find some support for a project like this and am slowly coming to the conclusion that I will have to go about it on my own for the remaining four years.  When I began I wrote down that I would give it two years and if I had not found a way to make the project self-supported I would reconsider and redirect.  Then the two year mark hit and I was still enjoying it so I kept at it as to me the payoff was in the journey and freedom that comes along with following one’s heart/dreams.  Another two years has passed and I still agree with that sentiment, but as the funds deplete and the financial needs of this pursuit grow (for example tournament entry fees: to play in mini-tours can cost around $2,000 a week after entry, travel, room and board) it becomes harder to deny a creeping sense of looming financial needs.

I’ve paddled this canoe half way cross the sea so can figure out how to make it safely home on my own if need be.  I never intended this to make money and was perfectly comfortable sidestepping my career for a few years in order to do some human potential explorations.  That was when I thought it would be a four year project, though, and now that I am approaching 35 it’s hard to not worry about future finances, retirement, helping raise a family, health care, having a safe car and all sorts of other concerns that begin popping in one’s head when life’s conceptual longevity creep into the picture.  There is a big difference between 29 and 35, surprisingly so.

I still love and cherish my freedom and decision, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that there is a greater sense of future than there was at the beginning.  The thing about golf, too, is that it’s shockingly expensive.  But that’s enough about that, this should be a celebration of time spent, not a time to linger on the finances of the future.

Long story short is that I hope to be able to finish the entire 10,000 hours and will do what I need to do in order to make that happen.  Goals often require sacrifices and I was well aware of that when I began.

Back to learning…

I have learned a lot about golf, quite a bit about what it takes to improve and that “plateaus” are just periods where more time and a fresh outlook is needed to surpass.  I have yet to see any specific or generalized reason why this goal of making it to the PGA Tour (or subsequently any specific goal) is not possible and I now firmly believe that anything is possible and that we have not yet begun to understand the limits of human potential.  It might be strange to use golf as an analogy for our capabilities, but I see it as a clear window into better understanding both mental and physical performance.

Speaking of those two types of performance, I see the second half of this pursuit becoming more about mental training than physical.

Over the past 5,000 hours I have spent the vast majority of my time learning how to physically swing a golf club and understanding the mechanics of that swing as well as the physics behind what makes a golf ball bend in the air.  It took a long time to get to the point where I had an efficient swing and that took up most of my training time.  I also spent some hours grasping the rules of the game and learning what it meant to play golf as well as how to score, but that was almost a side project during the first half.

I have noticed a lot of transition in my training and emphasis lately and it is evident that the emphasis from here on out is going to be more on the mental approach to the game.  For example, I have gotten to the point where I can work a ball well on the range with any club and hit my targets while doing so, but under the pressure of an actual match my skill level seems to, on occasions, diminish.  Learning how to perform in those situations and how to self-correct in the middle of an important round is tantamount to future success and will be the keys to moving forward.

That’s not to say I will stop focussing on mechanics nor will I not continue to try and increase my swing speed and accuracy, but just that there are crucially important aspects of getting to the next level that happen more internally than externally.  I always knew this would be both a physical and mental pursuit, but am just beginning to understand exactly how large a roll the mental aspects play in performance.

Today randomly happens to also be the 4 year anniversary of this pursuit.  A fitting day to be both half way and 4 years in.  And, the Masters start today.  To me that means my goal is to be playing in the Masters on the 10k finishing day which should be early April 2018.  Now that’s a target I can shoot for.

Thank you all for following along over these past four years.  The encouragement and support has been huge in keeping me focussed throughout each day and the fellowship of friends (either in person or via email) that has gathered along the way has easily been one of the best parts of this journey.  Here’s to another set of amazing years and unknown obstacles yet to be conquered.

To celebrate the day I played in Riverside’s Masters Day tournament.  I had no expectations heading into the round and saw it as a good position marker for the 5k to come.  I hit the ball well and despite the punched and sanded greens actually putted very well, shooting a 75 that landed me tied for 3rd out of the 88 entrants.  That score also put me in second place gross.  The low round of the day was a 73 shot by a plus two handicap golfer.  A 75 is a good sign of things to come and my lowest tournament round to date.

Also, part of the round was to pick a random pro playing in the Masters today and our rounds get paired together for a combined gross score.  I drew Phil Mickelson and proceeded to beat him by one stroke on the day.  Augusta is a much harder challenge and I didn’t play under the same pressure, but it still felt good to beat the pro I was paired with as he shot a 76 today.